


You're leaving me breathless

by CiaraSky



Series: 12 Days of Christmas - Bellarke Style [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge, Alternate Universe - High School, Bellamy is a senior and the others are juniors just to clear that up, Bellamy is being cute, Clarke and O are best friends, Day 4: Learning to Skate/Toboggan, F/M, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 11:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2770802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CiaraSky/pseuds/CiaraSky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Octavia finds out that Clarke can't ice skate, she has to drag her to the local ice skating rink. And Clarke isn't really delighted to see O's older brother Bellamy tag along. At least not at first.</p><p>Or where Bellamy helps Clarke to learn how to ice skate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're leaving me breathless

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd. Title from Paramore's "I Caught Myself" as I listened to it as I wrote this.

“I can’t believe you never have been ice skating!” Octavia says scandalized as they are eating their lunch. Clarke chews on her fry.

“Thanks for pointing it out again,” the blonde girl says miserably, dipping the fry into the mayonnaise at the rim of her plate.

“Oh _come on_ , I was just teasing,” O says, shoving her friend’s shoulder playfully.

“Hey grumpy face,” Jasper greets her as he and Monty sit down next to the two girls. Clarke gives him a deathly glare. “Ouhh, what’s eating you?”

“Clarke’s pissed I pointed out she can’t ice skate,” O explains and Clarke can’t help it but huff, looking between her friends. Only Monty gives her a consoling smile. Thank God for Monty.

“Ah I can’t skate either,” Jasper says enthusiastically and seriously, what is it with him and his constant good mood? Clarke wants some of that too. “I tried to learn it with my mum when I was like 7. Constantly fell on my ass. And my face. Almost knocked out one of my teeth.” He then goes on to point at his eyetooth which misses an edge. “But I guess it’d be fun to try and learn it again.”

“Yeahi!” O squeals and claps her hands. “We totally need to go to the ice skating rink this weekend.” Clarke eyes her friend with unease. She’s not fond of embarrassing herself. Especially not in front of a whole ice skating rink. Octavia seems to sense her discomfort and reaches out for Clarke’s hand, squeezing it slightly. “Hey, we’ll all be there. It’s not bad you can’t skate. We’ll help you. Right guys?”

O looks over at Jasper and Monty and they nod at Clarke, both of them smiling.

“It’s really not that hard,” Monty adds and then digs into his lunch.

Well, maybe he’s right.

*

They meet Saturday at 3 pm at the local ice skating rink. Of course Clarke’s early. She parks her car close to the entry and heads inside, not keen to freeze her ass off outside.

She rarely feels insecure, but as she watches the kids on the icy surface, she feels like a total idiot. How come her parents never taught her how to ice skate? It’s not like they are living in California where it’s not important to be able to do so (it’s not really important to be able to do it here either but fuck it, they are living in Connecticut after all).

Clarke keeps watching the people on the ice, gliding and twirling, some are even skating backwards! She’s so engrossed that she doesn’t notice her friends coming in until Octavia holds her hands over her eyes and yells “Guess who?!” before turning Clarke around and hugging her.

“Hey,” Clarke laughs and gives O a squeeze. As she breaks away from the hug, her eyes fall on Octavia’s older brother, Bellamy. “What’s he doing here?” she whispers to O, but the other girl just shrugs.

“I told him about the ice skating thing… not _your_ ice skating thing, relax,” she hastily adds as she sees Clarke enraged look. “He said that he wanted to do something with me again for a change, to he tagged along.”

Clarke sighs. This was the last thing she needed. Bellamy isn’t her favorite person in the world to see her fail major at ice skating. 

“Hey Clarke,” Bellamy then greets her and she gives him an uncomfortable smile.

“Aren’t Monty and Jasper here yet?” Octavia then asks, looking around the hall, but Clarke shakes her head. “Well, then… I guess we should get our skates and get going already, right?”

O nods her head over to the counter for them to get their skates and pay.

A few minutes later, Clarke eyes the ice skates on her feet with growing anxiety, all while still waiting for Jasper and Monty to turn up.

“Hey Princess,” Bellamy calls and honestly, what the heck? “Get off that bench and have some fun. Come here.” He holds out a hand and she looks at it and up into his eyes again. “Not gonna bite,” he says jokingly and smiles at her. God, could he stop that _stupid_ (not so stupid) smile?

Clarke take a deep breath before pushing herself up without Bellamy’s help.

“I can get onto the ice just fine,” she snaps and teeters the short distance between the bench and the gate. She then sets her right, then her left foot onto the ice unstably, gripping the edge of the glass wall encircling the rink for stability.

“Eyyy, she made it onto the ice!” Clarke then suddenly hears Jasper shout from the entrance and she looks up too fast, losing her footing and falling backwards onto the ice, _hard_.

“Damn it Jasper!” she swears and quickly pulls herself up, finding the railing running along the side of the rink and holds onto it.

“I get the feeling you’re new to this,” she then hears Bellamy say next to her and she looks at him, wanting to shoot him her death glare, but then their eyes meet and she realizes he’s sincere. She sighs.

“Yeah,” Clarke admits miserably, but Bellamy just reaches out for her left hand, softly detaching it from the railing.

“Mind if I help you with that?” he then asks and where the hell did that just come from. Clarke looks up at him in disbelieve, kind of surprised to hear something that nice out of his mouth. It’s not that he has never been _nice_ to her before, but in school, he’s always this grumpy, handsome (yes she can admit that she has a mancrush on him) jock and she can’t really bring that side of him together with the one she sees on rare occasions like this right here.

“Uhm, sure,” Clarke agrees, becoming painfully aware of the fact that Bellamy still holds her hand. Sure it’s nice, though, but it’s kinda awkward, the way they are standing there.

“Hey big brother, playing the gentleman again?” O says, coming to a halt next to them after her first round around the rink, spraying them with little fluffs of ice.

“Not playing,” he corrects her, still holding Clarke’s hand tightly. He looks over at her a second later when Octavia huffs a laugh and skates away. “I guess we should get off the ice.”

“Err, why?” Clarke asks but Bellamy already guides her off the ice. They are now standing on the rubber matting outside the rink.

“That’s why,” Bellamy says, pointing at the floor. “You need to get a bit more comfortable on these skates. Can you stand on them stably?” And damn it, they are still holding hands.

Clarke looks down at her feet uncertain, eyeing the white skates. Then she looks up again.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Great,” Bellamy says with a small smile. “Now try walking a few steps.” He gets to her side to not stand in her way and Clarke takes a few wobbly steps. She looks over at Bellamy, but he just nods encouragingly, motioning her to keep going. After a few minutes, Clarke already feels a lot more secure on the skates.

“Yes, yes, this is awesome,” Bellamy cheers and Clarke loos over at him in disbelieve. She’s _walking_ on the skates. He turns to stand in front of her. “Ready to get back onto the ice, Princess?”

Clarke grits her teeth at the nick name, but nods nevertheless.

“We already wasted 15 minutes of our time, so, yeah, let’s get going.”

Bellamy smiles and now takes both of her hands, making his way onto the rink backwards, looking out for people skating as well as keeping an eye on her. A minute later, they are on the ice in the direction of the general movement.

“Alright,” Bellamy speaks up once they are standing still. “You need to get a bit more relaxed, you’re standing far too stiff.” He carefully lets go off her hands and makes his way to stand behind her, gently laying his hands onto her hips. Clarke inhales deeply, only now getting aware that his close proximity makes her quite flustered. Not to mention his hands on her hips. “Bend your knees a bit,” Bellamy instructs her and she feels his hands slightly pushing her down so she can’t do otherwise but bend her knees. “Good. And now a bit forward with your shoulders. They should be above your knees,” he explains as he lays a hand between her shoulder blades and guides her into the right position. His left hand still rests on her hip.

Suddenly, Monty and Jasper rush past and the latter, looking really shaky on his skates, whistles at them. It almost, _almost_ startles Clarke enough to fall onto her derriere again but Bellamy pushes her back before it happens. Clarke follows her friends with her eyes and sees Jasper winking at her before Monty grabs him by his arm and pulls him along. Suddenly she feels Bellamy chuckle behind her. She looks at him over her shoulder. But he just detaches his hands from where they rested on her back and hip and makes his way to her front again.

“Doing well so far. Feeling ready for me to pull you along a bit?” Bellamy asks, still smiling a bit and it relaxes Clarke more than she wants to admit. She nods, trying to return the smile. “Okay.”

Bellamy takes her hands into his and slowly starts skating backwards. Even though he’s slower than the slowest kids on the ice, Clarke feels like there are going a lot faster. She’s feeling insecure, looking down at her feet.

“Hey, hey, don’t look down. Look at me,” he says and squeezes her hands.

They lock eyes. Clarke studies the brown of his iris that looks almost black in this artificial light. Her eyes roam over his face, along the freckles peppering his skin, down to his mouth which is curled up in a smile. His black curls fall into his forehead from where they were originally gelled back. He looks a lot nicer that way. Like, _really_ nice.

“Ready to move a bit on your own?” Clarke notices her friends gliding by, but thankfully this time, no one of them says anything. But she’s still feeling insecure. “Hey, I’m right here to catch you if you fall, okay?” Bellamy then reminds her and it actually feels nice to know he cares about her, even if it’s just that she won’t crack her skull open. Finally, she nods slightly, pressing her lips together. “Brave Princess,” Bellamy smiles and it ears him a long overdue glare from Clarke which only, of course, makes him chuckle. “I get it.” Can someone please wipe that shit-eating grin off his face? “Lean onto your left foot and then push your right foot diagonally behind you, outward, like if you’d shovel snow with it.” Bellamy increases his hold onto Clarke’s hands again and something inside her clicks. She pushes herself forward just as Bellamy explained.

She doesn’t fall.

Wait, she does.

Right into Bellamy’s arms.

“Woah, slowly there Princess,” Bellamy grins – and seriously, he has to stop with that name (no please, keep going) – and wraps his arms around her to pull her up again. “I probably should have mentioned that you need to do so gently. Otherwise this happens.” He laughs and Clarke wants to laugh too, but he’s still kind of holding her close and she feels the way his body vibrates because of his laugh and it feels… she sighs. Which kind of sounded a bit _too_ much like a moan. Bellamy looks at her in surprise. “Everything okay?” he asks and she hastily pushes herself from Bellamy’s chest.

“Yeah, sure, let’s try it again,” she says a bit too fast and she gets into the right position before Bellamy takes her hands again. She can feel the red creeping up her cheeks, but she hopes she can blame the icy cold inside here if he should ever ask. And so Clarke tries again, pushing herself forward a lot softer this time. She actually manages to keep her footing.

A bright smile stretches across her face and a similar one across Bellamy’s face when she looks up from her feet at him.

Then, O, Jasper and Monty stop next to her and Bellamy.

“I think you’re getting the hang of it,” Monty says and smiles at her. Jasper gives her a thumbs up and Octavia grins happily.

“Bell’s a good teacher, isn’t he?” she asks Clarke and that grin right there has to run in the family. Besides, what up with that? It’s not like Clarke ever mentioned her “crush” to her best friend. But then again did Octavia always sense whenever Clarke thought about someone etc.

“Don’t make me blush,” Bellamy teases his sister and she winks at him.

“Well, not wanting to interrupt you any longer,” Octavia then says and pulls her two friends with her, and Clarke can see them joking already. Hopefully not about her and Bellamy.

“Well then, let’s try again,” Bellamy brings her back and gives her a nod. She nods back, holding onto his hands and pushing herself forward again. One time. A second with the other side. And again and again. “Yes, yes, this is it!” Bellamy cheers happily as Clarke starts gliding a bit faster, becoming steadier by the minute on her skates. He’s still skating backwards and Clarke wonders how long it would take her to do that too. Probably a few more times.

“Wanna try it on your own now?” he then asks even though they are barely holding hands anymore anyway.

“Yeah,” Clarke says confidently, trusting in herself not to fall down without Bellamy to hold onto. Slowly, Bellamy lets go off her hands and Clarke can’t do otherwise but smile as she skates across the ice. She’s actually doing it.

Bellamy smiles at her too as he rounds her, then skating along her left side. Clarke feels like she’s flying. It’s so effortless to ice skate.

“I can’t believe I’ve never done this before,” she says ecstatic, stretching her arms to her side like a bird. Clarke risks a glance at Bellamy and when their eyes meet, his face lights up.

“You’re a natural,” he says and it kinda makes Clarke proud. Sports aren’t really her thing, so it’s nice to know she’s good at something like ice skating. Plus Bellamy helped her get the hang of it. Bellamy, of all people.

 

They make their way around the rink again and again and again, eventually accompanied by Octavia, Jasper and Monty, and GOD they really need to do this more often. Around half an hour before their time is up, Octavia decides to get a hot chocolate at the ice rink’s coffee shop and Jasper wants to go with her out of obvious reasons, and since Monty would feel out of place with either O and Jasper and her and Bellamy, he decides to go with the former since Jasper is his best friend.

Which means Bellamy and Clarke are along again.

They make another round the rink when Bellamy starts to skate backwards again in front of her.

“Wanna have some fun?” he asks her with a grin and Clarke’s feeling so good, she simply nods, smiling. So Bellamy takes her hands and starts pulling her along. “Don’t push. Keep your feet steady,” he directs her, so she does.

The rink is fairly empty now, so they don’t really have to look out for other skaters, and Bellamy starts to get faster. And faster still.

“Bellamy!” Clarke shrieks as he almost crashes into the railing, but she laughs as he saves it last minute and swirls her around because of it. They stop abruptly and Clarke stumbles into Bellamy.

The second time this day.

They laugh as Clarke rests her head against his chest and he wraps and arm around her shoulder, his body shaking from his laughs.

“Never do that again,” Clarke tries to say aggressively, but she can’t stop laughing.

“Not if it’s gonna get you this close to me,” Bellamy says all of a sudden and it takes Clarke a moment to realize what he just said. They both stop laughing and look at each other. Now it’s Bellamy who blushes. “Uhm…”

Clarke smirks. Now maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea of Bellamy to tag along in the first place.

*

Monday morning in school, Clarke looks out for Bellamy, but she can’t find him without seeming too suspicious. O making jokes about her and Bellamy at the ice rink doesn’t really make it better but that’s just Octavia.

After lunch when Clarke goes to fetch her history book from her locker, her phone vibrates in her pocket. She smiles as she sees looks at the screen.

 

_Wanna go ice skating again this weekend? – Bellamy_

Some seconds later, a second messages comes in.

 

_I’m paying. I’m not taking no for an answer._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if this wasn't really romantic bellark-y, but I somehow tried to turn it around at the end.  
> All mistakes are mine so feel free to point spelling errors and all that out. Other comments are very very welcome too, of course :3


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